A Sunday Adventure

So, after Territory Days (and all the beer drinking that was inherent in Territory Days), I somehow roused Brian out of bed at 6:30 the following morning. We stopped for gas and McDonald's breakfast sandwiches (I think that's the only reason he got up...) and took the back roads to Deckers, Colorado. It was a beautiful day and we drove with the windows down and the music up.

After reaching Deckers, we took the forest roads towards Cheeseman Reservoir and followed several other dirt roads about 15 miles into National Forest. We parked at the Goose Creek trailhead and set out hiking.

The first half mile or so was through an area impacted by the Hayman Fire which destroyed 138,000 acres, destroyed 133 homes and 466 outbuildings, and forced the evacuation of 8,000 people in 2002 after a Forest Service worker (!!) started the fire when she burned divorce papers from her estranged husband. Actually, just this morning I read in the Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_9459309 that she has just been release from 6 years in federal prison. Nonetheless, the devastating effects of the Hayman Fire are still very much evident. But...life is returning to the area, as it does after a forest fire. There were beautiful wildflowers and aspen trees in bloom.

We hiked quite a way along Goose Creek and saw lots of good fishing and swimming holes. Brian seemed to be o.k. at this point...relatively. However, I think this picture sums up how he was feeling about this little adventure at the time.

The trail was beautiful. It was t-shirt weather, the trail was relatively quiet for as many people as were out using it that day, and Lily was a very happy puppy.

After hiking on a gentle incline for a couple hours, (about 4 miles) we reached our destination, the Lost Park Reservoir site. According to this sign, the Lost Park Company tried to dam Lost Creek in the late 1800s to make a reservoir.

Although their endeavor was unsuccessful, these cabins, which were built to house the employees remain standing. They are in surprisingly good shape and have officially been designated on the National Register of Historic Places.

After exploring the buildings, we had lunch and settled in for a much-needed rest.

And that's just what Brian needed! Brian, who kept his jacket on during the entire first half of the hike (in an attempt to sweat all those Territory Day beers...) and who didn't say more than 5 words to me on the way in. On the way out, he was a new man! He was chatting away behind me as we made our way down the trail.

We were definitely both running on empty when we got back to the truck after about 5 hours of hiking. Especially Lily :)